Around 1940, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune and he was spotted by Devika Rani, and her husband Himanshu Rai (owners of Bombay Talkies) in Aundh military canteens Pune, following which he was cast in his first film Jwar Bhata in 1944.

In an attempt to shed his "tragedy king" image, Dilip Kumar took up his psychiatrist's suggestion that he take on lighthearted roles such as Aan (1952), his first film in technicolour in which he played a swashbuckling peasant.